July 29, 1987: Light at the end of the Chunnel

It is 30 years since Parliament gave final approval to the Channel Tunnel Bill. At the time, the undertaking still seemed almost unfeasible. Today, a generation later, people think nothing of putting their car on a shuttle train − the busiest such operation in the world − and gliding off on holiday some 380 feet below the waves through the longest sea tunnel ever built, or catching a Eurostar train for a quick meeting in Paris, now a mere 2 hours 15 minutes away.